How is Digital Transformation RESHAPING guest experience? And how should boutique hotels RESPOND?

Digital transformation is NOT what you think. Especially when it comes to boutique hotels and guest experience.

Information is not the same as KNOWLEDGE. And digital transformation is not only about technology and Internet.

Collecting data without drawing insights is just a big pile of nothing! And you are the one to set use cases for that data!

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Video Transcript:

Hello everyone. Welcome to Remarkable Boutique Hotels where we talk about outstanding experiences and everything that leads to them.

Todays’ big question is – are you investing your time and effort in getting to know your guests? Are you actually making insights about them or just piling useless data? And, talking about data, where does digital transformation fit all this and why it is not that complicated as you think? Lots of questions to answer. So, let’s dive in.

Statistics show that 1 in 3 guests will walk away even from a brand they love after just one bad experience. Guests are obviously saying that most hotels need to improve their guest experience. And this is not even about bad reviews. This is about guests who understand what they expected wasn’t what they got. But who created those expectations? You did. Again, marketing is not the solution neither is great public image on digital platforms if you are not able to consistently provide those exact experiences in everyday business. The worst thing is, these guests might be exactly the clientele you want and yet they are never coming back.

Back to basics and I’ll use every opportunity to highlight the importance of well developed and applied concept across all departments. Knowing what your hotel is all about is foundation even for things such as digitization. What you promise, what you stand for and how you find ways to constantly implement it in service style, overall offers, interior, communication, booking process, guest relations, menus etc. and clearly communicating all these will help you get to the right people. And those guests will have realistic expectations and will already like you for what you are and that is half of the job done. What is the other half? Getting to know them, your guests. And this is the point of digitization.

So, while hotels were focusing on other things, not so guest centric, OTAs took over in accommodating the level of customization that the market demanded which decreased direct bookings for hotels. And today, these are still two biggest challenges for hotels. However, independent boutique hotels, due to their business nature, have advantages that can result in outstanding guest experience and loyalty. They can implement changes with relative ease because of small team thinking along the same lines. And how does digital transformation become important here?

Digital transformation is not only about the use and integration of different technologies, that’s not the main thing. And prior to implementing some of many available technological solutions, which I talked about in last video, you should think in terms of principles behind them and start implementing them right away to automate operations, enhance experiences, create new business models and innovative offers, etc. These are the real drivers all leading to market differentiation while data, software, technology, those are only enablers.

So, the main play in digital transformation is closely listening and understanding your guest’s needs and working toward developing a guest-centric service. Of course it starts with data but unfortunately it’s also where many hotels finish, with straight forward data such as how many rooms are booked, what the rates are, when the peak of anything is, etc. These are called iterative data. You can imagine them as dots scattered around giving some information that you have available when making decisions. But what you want to be doing is connecting those dots and making meaningful insights, so it’s just a start really. You want to create interactive data which means finding relations between data, like patterns.

You should do this individually for each guest but also collectively. When done individually it skyrockets guest satisfaction because you investigate guests behaviors and preferences and when done collectively, on a hotel level, then it helps making business decisions and concluding on things connected to strategy. This kind of data processing results in more customized guest experience, but also greater operational efficiency and increased income eventually. However, in order to have such benefits you need to understand what is the promise you are giving, what kind of consistent experience you want to provide and what counts as going above and beyond for a guest. Otherwise, you may end up with more chaos then order. That’s again why clear concept that is applied and clean backend structure is essential for any success. Why? Because, otherwise you again end up with missed opportunities, false expectations and lost guest. Digital transformation should close that gap between what you guests expect and what you really deliver.

That leads us to the conclusion that you should experience what your guests experience. Get a better understanding of the experience your hotel delivers through your guests’ eyes. Walk your guests’ journey all the way from connecting with the brand, booking, along the stay and everything you provide, until departure and even after. Start making dynamic guests’ profiles that you refresh whenever new insights are available. Don’t let guests repeat themselves, capture all that is important to them and relevant to your concept. For example, remember how they like their coffee in the morning or if it is coffee at all, maybe it’s matcha or some other tea, don’t give them bottle of Champaign as a welcome gift if they don’t drink alcohol. Know who your guests are, what they need and want, what their routines are, why did they come. Think logically what is happening before and after these needs and wants, how can you make their life easier, conclude in advance and provide things before they even ask for it. For example, if the flight is delayed, offer late check out, if you know they don’t eat desserts offer cheese or fruit plate, if they are attending a wedding, communicate how you can be on service outside of regular hours maybe. Meet their needs as many times as possible and aim for immediate and effortless experience for them. Examples are endless, observe, see and conclude what you can do, especially in a way that fits your brand image.

The value that you provide to your guests is answering to their needs, fast and seamless, right to the point, that’s providing relevant quality, that’s true luxury today. This makes them feel pleased, satisfied, taken care of in ways that are right for your guests. Obviously, this is very dependent on the type of your guests. Your mission is to deliver this value immediately and effortlessly for them. When you accomplish to meet their needs, expectations, standards, make their stay easier, enough number of times, hopefully very often, the value seen as such by your guests increases. Meanwhile, if you manage to connect the dots as soon as you have information and without any effort required by them, the value will feel infinite, you’ll get that wow effect and everything after that will be taken as amazing service by default, you’ve got them right there. Effortless, immediate, very often, relevant value. Those are the only right reasons for using any technology, in frontend or backend of the business, but this is the ultimate result you want.

At the end, we can’t skip to mention privacy matters. As you develop highly personalized services that rely on storing and tracking guest behavior, having clear privacy policy stating which data is being collected and how it’s used, who owns the data and whether it is shared is necessary. However, the practice shows guests are more annoyed when you are not using the data they know is available everywhere nowadays. When you use data to create seamless experience to be remembered they will not be against it but surprised and delighted while already planning their next stay with you.

Data is more available than ever, use it wisely to create more value and make more money. Until next occasion, have a beautiful experiences my friends.

Thank you for listening. Here at Remarkable Boutique Hotels, we want your hotel to be worth every penny and every second of your guests. Schedule a discovery call to find more about our remarkable methodology which is unique in the whole hospitality industry. I would love to hear your hotel story. See you there.